Is it Time to Rethink your Job Interview Questions?

Recently an article was published on www.mainstreet.com about the Ten Companies with the Toughest Interview Questions, questions that would make anyone nervous if they were put on the spot and asked these questions in a job interview.  The idea is to see how people think on their feet, how they decipher a problem or issue, and how they go about processing a problem.  It's not necessarily about if they got the answer "right" (many of the questions don't even have a right answer), but what was the candidate's thought process?  The interview is one of the most important pieces of the recruiting process, so you'd better ask questions that are going to be able to help you assess if a candidate is going to be right for the job.   Common interview questions ask about strengths/weaknesses, past job experiences and goals for the future.  Behavioral interview questions, another type of interview questions, force a candidate to tell the interviewer how they performed in a given situation in the past.  For example, “Tell me about a time you had a very difficult customer to deal with and how you dealt with that customer?”  As the saying goes, “past behavior predicts future behavior.”  You can learn a lot about a person by listening closely to how they handled a situation.  This new line of questioning, however, offers another view into the person being interviewed and how they might perform.  One example of this new line of question is  “How many ping pong balls can fit into the overhead compartment of a 747 plane?”, a question asked by Bain & Company.     

Maybe it is time to think about the positions you hire for regularly and if a new line of questioning could better help you find the best candidate?    In a manufacturing setting, questions would be very different for a quality engineer, than for a software engineer in a software company, where innovation is an everyday occurrence.    What kind of culture do you have?  What kind of thinking do you want to perpetuate?   An organization where employees have to think quickly on their feet or solve very complex issues may have the right environment to change up the interview questions.   Or maybe an organization is looking for new ideas and this is a way to go about finding those employees who can think out of the box.

Additionally, many of the organizations mentioned in the article also are great places to work, where employees have a lot of job satisfaction.  Questions such as those mentioned, really help weed out candidates who might not be a good fit for that company or committed to business objectives.   So maybe it is time, as a manager, recruiter, or HR professional to think beyond the traditional interview questions and find a question that you can add into your interviewing repertoire.  It may help you find that superstar candidate.

Goal Setting Starts at the Top and Cascades Down to the Employees

Setting and cascading goals throughout the organization is vital to achieving company objectives.  Before you can expect employees to set goals, however, you'll need to set company goals.

When defining goals, you’ll want to make sure they meet the SMART criteria:

Specific: A specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished than a general goal.

Measurable: Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of each goal you set.

Attainable:  It should be a stretch to reach the goal, but not so much so that it’s out of reach. 

Realistic: What it takes to do to achieve the goal should be within the availability of resources, knowledge and time.

Timely: The goals should have a clearly defined time-frame including a target completion date.

Using the SMART criteria above, you should determine 3-5 goals that are tied to success measures of the company.  Oftentimes they are financial, business development, process development or customer satisfaction measures.  Once the Company Goals are determined, they should be communicated throughout the Company.  Using a company-wide venue (all company meeting, webcast, e-mail, etc.) to share the goals will ensure that all employees hear the same consistent message.  Once communicated, these goals become the framework that shape departmental and individual goals.  Hence the goals are cascaded as Company Goals to Departmental Goals to Individual Goals.  Setting goals at the department and employee level ensures that the day-to-day work is tied to the overall success of the company.  Connecting the goals to the Performance Management Process, whereby you can assess an employee’s attainment vs. their goals on a quarterly, semi-annual, or annual basis will further enforce employee goals and get you further down the road towards attaining your company goals.

Check-in on the goals a few times throughout the year.  It doesn’t have to be a formal process… just a quick conversation to review the goals to make sure they still make sense.  As business and company conditions change, be sure to review the goals to make any adjustments accordingly. 

Starting Off On the Right Foot With Your New Hire Orientation/Onboarding Program

There are over fifteen different definitions of “Orientation” according to Wikipedia. If there are that many definitions of the word, you can only imagine how many different ways there are for employers to handle new hire employee orientation.  There is no “one size fits all” way to orient new employees; however, doing it wrong, or not doing it at all, can leave a lasting bad first impression.   Before setting out to develop your New Hire Orientation or Onboarding program, think about the goals of your program: 

• Are you hoping to simply relay the necessary policy and procedural information and employee benefits or are your goals loftier aimed at integrating the new hire into the organization and educating them about the company mission and values? 
• How do you want the new hire to perceive the Company? 
• How much time do you have to deliver the information?  An hour, a day?  Can you pull new hires together at a later date to continue their orientation?
• Logistically, when will orientation be delivered and by whom? 
• What information does the new hire need to know up front to do their job?
• What information can wait and be given at a later date, in an effort to avoid information overload?
• How much do you want new employees to learn about other areas of the Company, not necessarily just their job function?
• Are there legal requirements to information new hires need to receive based on their job (for example, Right to Know Training)?
• Do you have a mentor program in place and how does that integrate into the Onboarding program?

Once you’ve answered some of the above questions, you’ll be able to begin developing your program. There are a few basic components to all Onboarding programs. 

• Benefits and Payroll paperwork
• Administrative procedures – how the phones work, mail, work space, tour of office, etc.
• Company policies (Employee Handbook), safety and required training
• Company mission, values and business goals
• Departmental/job specific training

The additional components that can also be included in an Onboarding program include:

• Mentoring program
• Cross training with other departments (could be through working with other department managers or in a training setting)
• Follow up orientation to reinforce what was learned

The differences in Onboarding programs stem from how you deal with each piece and the information given under each component.

Once you have developed your Onboarding program, stick to it.  Often times other priorities get in the way and New Hire Orientation get pushed to the bottom.  Keep in mind, however, that these new employees are the future of the company and their successful assimilation into the organization should be a top priority.  Putting thought and time into developing a quality Onboarding program that fits the needs, values and culture of your organization will go a long way towards employee retention and success on the job.

Employee Communications Is More Than Just Talk

Do you consider employee communication a high priority? Studies show that companies with highly effective internal communication programs are more likely to provide a significant return to shareholders and are also more likely to have higher levels of employee engagement and lower employee turnover rates.

But, how do you begin?  Start at the top by assessing your senior management team – they set the tone for establishing organizational culture and cascading daily consistent messages to employees. Ask your employees what they think – do they feel communication is aligned with the mission, vision & culture of the organization?  Is it consistent?  Timely?  Facilitate focus groups to hone in on the common threads.  Once you have determined what the issues are – take a look at your budget to determine what sort of communication vehicles you can afford to implement. Depending on the timing, location and sensitivity of the message there a number of vehicles from which to choose.  The Employee Handbook, Monthly Newsletters, Town Meetings and Social Media are all commonly used.  Choose your communication channels carefully.  Think about your audience and how to best communicate with them.  We tend to turn to e-mail first, but keep in mind that this is often the least effective way to get your message across.  When possible, face to face communication tends to be the most effective because we receive an immediate reaction, are able to clarify any confusion and people tend to listen more closely.

The key to a strong employee communication strategy is planning, followed by implementation and follow-up. Taking the time to communicate with your employees will help increase employee productivity, boost employee morale and ultimately improve the bottom line.

A New Approach to Employee Incentives

Traditional Employee Incentive Plans have rewarded employees for a job well done; however, many companies are taking a new approach to incentives.  The new incentive plans are aimed at achieving specific company goals such as cost savings, going green or promoting healthy behaviors.   Research has found that offering financial incentives increases the success rate of changing behavior, so companies have found their pain points and set out to change behavior. 

Benefit premium costs have been on the rise and are increasingly hard to swallow for many companies.  Healthier employee populations mean lower premiums, so promoting healthy behaviors is in the best interest of both the employer and the employee.  According to one survey, 73 percent of those surveyed would be willing to positively affect their health behavior if it meant saving money.  Realizing this, companies are motivating employees to be healthier and in turn, reduce their benefit costs.  One example is GE who has begun to offer lower premium costs to employees who do not smoke.  Their new plan reduces premium costs for non-smokers while requiring an additional contribution for those employees who do smoke.  At the same time, GE is also offering a smoking cessation program to provide the support necessary to aid smokers in their efforts to quit.

Large travel budgets are another cost companies are looking to reduce.  A recent NY Times article highlights Energizer Battery Company, where many employees travel for business.  Energizer shares the difference of a coach ticket over business class for travel overseas and offers up to a $2000 incentive for employees and $3000 for travel to Asia.  With implementation of this program they’ve seen a significant reduction in their travel costs.

What do you think about these financial incentives?  Do you agree this is the way of the future?

Summer Hours: HR Policy Highlight

Summer Hours can be a way for both the company and the employee to enjoy summer while maintaining employee productivity.  An increasing number of companies are offering flexible work arrangements, such as summer hours, to enhance work-life balance, improve employee morale, and increase employee retention.  While summer hours are different from a flexible-work program, in that all employees enjoy the benefit, many of the considerations in implementing summer hours are similar to that of a flexible-work program. 

The following considerations should be taken into account when developing a summer hours program:

• Timing of the program. Determine the start and end date of your program. 
• Schedule. There are a number of different options that can be implemented, including: 
  • One day off per week
  • Shortened work day on multiple days
  • Early closing on Friday or shortened work day
  • Change in core hours/schedule shift  
  • Compressed work week
• Organizational goals. Your summer hours program must align with the company's objectives and goals to be successful. 
• Consider the business. As you choose the plan that works for your company, think about your daily and weekly business demands.
• Exceptions. There may be times when all employees, or just a few, will need to forego their summer hours. 
• Think outside the box. There may be a non-traditional hours program that will enhance your business and give employees some temporary flexibility in their summer schedules. 
• Evaluation. Let employees know, upon implementation, that the program will be evaluated and may be changed at any time due to business demands.

The benefits to a summer hours program can be great, but should be carefully thought out prior to implementation.  While summer is the time many employees want to have fun, the needs of the business don't disappear.  Developing a program that will support both the needs of the employee and the company will be a win-win for all!

How Constructive Employee Feedback Can Improve Performance Management

Why do Managers shy away from giving performance feedback, both positive and negative?  Constructive feedback is crucial to career development, employee satisfaction, employee retention and employee motivation.  Employee feedback should be given as frequently as possible; both formally through the annual performance review forms and ensuing discussions, but also informally through ongoing conversations and coaching.  Managers really lose a golden opportunity to motivate their employees if they forget to praise an employee on doing a great job, or ineffectively praise the employee by providing no personalized examples of how that employee performed well.  On the other hand, there is nothing quite so disheartening as learning for the first time during an annual review that some aspect of your performance has been lacking for the past 6 months, but you were never notified.  Feedback gives employees the opportunity to change behavior and also to charge forward, but if they don't know what worked and what didn't, how can we expect them to perform to their full potential?

Giving feedback doesn't really need to be that scary – being prepared up front can take much of the fear out of the meeting and set the stage for a constructive and productive discussion.  Where you will be holding the discussion, what you will say and when to have the conversation are all important to the ultimate success of the message.  Feedback should not be a one-sided conversation; Managers should be prepared to allow the employee to provide their input into the situation and to actively listen as they do so and ask appropriate questions.

Remember, the goal of performance feedback and counseling conversations is always to work with the employee to improve their performance, in a dignified, constructive manner and to reward them for a job well done!

Can a Vacation Policy of No Policy be a Good Employee Policy?

It sounds like a dream, a company with a vacation or paid time off (PTO) policy that doesn't restrict or enforce any rules around the number off days an employee can take off. That's right, take 15, 20, 25+ days in a year – you decide.  Believe it or not, there are a growing number of companies who have removed the restrictions on common time off policies and are giving employees the ability to essentially manage not only their work, but their time off.  Netflix instituted such a policy along with a plan for creating a culture in which this policy will work.  Hubspot, IBM and Best Buy are a sampling of a few other companies that have also implemented similar policies.  So the question is, can this really work?  In a nutshell, it can, but requires a shift in thinking to a Results Oriented Workplace (ROW) and a shift to a cultural environment of trust and empowerment.   Additionally you'll want to think about communication of the policy and any special circumstances.

A results oriented workplace is one is which employees are given the work assignments, a deadline and they are expected to manage their work to quality completion.  In a ROW, Managers do not “micromanage' their employees.   For many employees this type of environment allows them to work when they are most productive.  Let's face it, not all of us are at our best from 9:00 – 5:00 each day.  Many people are more productive either earlier or later in the day.  In a company where vacation is not monitored, employees must be responsible to manage their short term and long term assignments and their time off so that they are able to complete projects as required.

One of the keys to successful implementation of such a policy is to think it through first and then to effectively communicate the policy.  Even though it is a policy of no policy, there are guidelines that should be determined and discussed.  For example, consider how you will handle the following:

• What will be the effective date and will you pay employees for current balances?
• How should Managers track time so that they can measure abuse, if necessary?
• Is there a request process for taking time so that you know who is out and when?
• If an employee goes out on a leave (FMLA, STD, etc), how much time will they receive at full pay?
• Will sick time be tracked so that a doctor's note or medical certification can be requested?

Once you've determined how to handle these questions and any others that may come up, communicate!  For some employees, this can be a little nerve-wracking if they're used to the black and white, so you'll want to put them at ease and answer their questions.  For many of these employees, they may not end up taking time, whereas a traditional time off policy might have forced them to in the past.  Encourage employees to take a reasonable amount of time off.

A time off policy with no limitations has many benefits.  Employees feel empowered, trusted and free, which will promote employee morale and employee productivity.  Since there are no accruals to track, the administration of time off goes way down.  Additionally, because time is not accrued, there are no payouts upon termination.

For many of us, it's definitely an “out of the box' policy, but could be the wave of the future.